Bulgarian
This page describes how Bulgarian schools grade and how to build the same system in MarkBook. The rules come from the Preschool and School Education Act and the ministry's ordinance on the assessment of pupils' results (Наредба № 11). Check the current texts for anything your school reports to the ministry, because ordinances are amended often.
The structure of the year
The school year has two terms (срокове): I срок and II срок.
| Mark | Bulgarian | English | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current marks | текущи оценки | Marks for oral answers, written tests, practical work, projects | During the term |
| Term mark | срочна оценка | One mark per subject for the term | End of I срок and II срок |
| Annual mark | годишна оценка | One mark per subject for the year | End of the year |
The teacher sets the срочна оценка on the basis of the current marks, and the годишна оценка on the basis of the two term marks. These are teacher decisions, not a strict arithmetic mean, although the mean is the usual starting point.
There must be a minimum number of current marks in each term. The minimum depends on the number of lessons a week (more lessons, more marks). Check the ordinance for the exact numbers.
The 2–6 scale
Every mark from class IV upwards has a word (qualitative indicator) and a number (quantitative indicator):
| Number | Word | Transliteration | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | Отличен | Otlichen | Excellent |
| 5 | Много добър | Mnogo dobar | Very good |
| 4 | Добър | Dobar | Good |
| 3 | Среден | Sreden | Satisfactory (lowest pass) |
| 2 | Слаб | Slab | Poor (fail) |
A mark is written as both: Много добър 5. Current, term and annual marks are whole numbers. 3 (Среден) is the lowest pass; an annual mark of Слаб 2 means a resit exam (поправителен изпит) in that subject.
Averages and their bands
When marks are averaged, for example for the overall success (общ успех) at the end of a stage, on a diploma, or when a mark is calculated from exam points, the average keeps two decimals and falls in a band:
| Average | Word | Mark |
|---|---|---|
| 5.50 – 6.00 | Отличен | 6 |
| 4.50 – 5.49 | Много добър | 5 |
| 3.50 – 4.49 | Добър | 4 |
| 3.00 – 3.49 | Среден | 3 |
| 2.00 – 2.99 | Слаб | 2 |
So an average is written as, for example, Много добър 5.25. The bands are the same as rounding to the nearest whole number with .50 going up, except that anything under 3.00 is Слаб.
Early classes and kindergarten
| Level | How children are assessed |
|---|---|
| Kindergarten (детска градина) | No marks. Teachers check what each child has reached at the start and at the end of the year (input and output diagnostics) against the expected results of the curriculum. The wording of the result depends on the school's own tools |
| Classes I–III | Qualitative marks only, with no number: Отличен, Много добър, Добър, Среден, Слаб |
| Classes IV–XII | Word and number, 2–6 |
There is no separate conduct mark in Bulgarian schools today.
National exams
| Exam | Class | Result |
|---|---|---|
| НВО (national external assessment) | IV, VII, X | Points. In class VII the points count towards admission to upper secondary school |
| ДЗИ (state matriculation exams) | XII | Points converted into a 2–6 mark with two decimals, for example Добър 4.37 |
Setting it up in MarkBook
The plan: a 2–6 scale, one column per current mark, a calculated term average shown in its band colour, a term mark the teacher picks, and an annual average of the two term marks as a guide for the annual mark.
1. Run the setup wizard
- Open the Setup Wizard and pick Start from scratch.
- On Your school, choose Curriculum Other or international and tick Secondary.
- On Terms, choose Two semesters and name them
I срокandII срок. - Finish, then build the scale below.
2. The 2–6 scale
Configuration → Assessment → Attainment scales → Add new attainment scale. Grading type Label marks, Name Оценки 2–6:
| Grade | Description | Weight (points) |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Отличен | 6 |
| 5 | Много добър | 5 |
| 4 | Добър | 4 |
| 3 | Среден | 3 |
| 2 | Слаб | 2 |
If your reports must print the word with the number, use Отличен 6, Много добър 5 … as the grade labels instead. The weights stay 6 to 2.
3. Current marks
In Configuration → Assessment → Markbook Templates → Columns Configurations, press New value type for each current mark. All Grade label, scale Оценки 2–6, Repeated in every reporting period:
| Name | Short label |
|---|---|
| Текуща оценка 1 | T1 |
| Текуща оценка 2 | T2 |
| Текуща оценка 3 | T3 |
| Текуща оценка 4 | T4 |
Use Latin short labels: they are what you type in formulas.
The average uses the marks that exist
Add as many current-mark columns as the subject needs. If a pupil has only two of four marks, the term average is the average of those two. A missing mark is left out, never counted as zero. The term average therefore appears as soon as the first mark is in. Check the number of current marks before you finalise the term mark.
4. Averages and term marks
| Name | Short label | Data type | Scale | Where does this column appear? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Среден успех | SU | Calculated | Repeated in every reporting period | |
| Срочна оценка I | SO1 | Grade label | Оценки 2–6 | Repeated in every reporting period |
| Срочна оценка II | SO2 | Grade label | Оценки 2–6 | Repeated in every reporting period |
| Годишен среден | GS | Calculated | Only in the final reporting period | |
| Годишна оценка | GO | Grade label | Оценки 2–6 | Only in the final reporting period |
5. Build the template
On the template's Template settings tab:
- Reporting period zone: add T1, T2, T3, T4, SU, SO1 and SO2.
- In the Live preview, disable SO2 under I срок and SO1 under II срок, so each term has its own term mark.
- Final period zone: add GS and GO.
- Click SU. On the Advanced tab write
avg(T1, T2, T3, T4). Show as Number, Decimals 2. - Click GS and write
avg(SO1, SO2), Decimals 2. - Press Save value types.
SU is the same value type in both terms, because a formula reads the columns of its own term: in I срок it averages I срок's marks, in II срок those of II срок. GS needs a different term mark in each term, which is why there are two of them.
6. Colour the averages by band
Edit Среден успех in Columns Configurations, turn on Colour-code this column by its value, choose Coloured chip, and add these bands (a band includes its "from" value and stops just before its "up to" value):
| From | Up to | Colour |
|---|---|---|
| (No limit) | 3 | Red (Слаб) |
| 3 | 3.5 | Orange (Среден) |
| 3.5 | 4.5 | Yellow (Добър) |
| 4.5 | 5.5 | Light green (Много добър) |
| 5.5 | (No limit) | Dark green (Отличен) |
Do the same for Годишен среден.
If you want a whole-number guide instead, write round(avg(T1, T2, T3, T4)) with Decimals 0. round() sends .50 up, which matches the bands from 3 upwards.
7. Classes I–III
- Configuration → Assessment → Judgement scales → Add judgement scale. Name
Качествени оценки, Type Progress, Value type Text. - Values (Label, Code, Weight):
Отличен, Отличен, 5;Много добър, Мн. добър, 4;Добър, Добър, 3;Среден, Среден, 2;Слаб, Слаб, 1. The grid and the report show the code, so keep it as the word. - On a template for classes I–III, use Judgement scale columns with this scale for current, term and annual marks. Do not add averages: the word marks have no number.
8. Kindergarten
Use learning outcomes for the expected results, judged at the start and end of the year with a judgement scale of your choice (for example "reached / partly reached / not yet reached"), and a comment column for the teacher's description. See Learning Outcomes Overview.
Worked example
Мария, 6 клас, Математика.
| T1 | T2 | T3 | T4 | SU (average) | Term mark the teacher sets | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I срок | 5 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 5.25 (light green) | SO1 = Много добър 5 |
| II срок | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5.75 (dark green) | SO2 = Отличен 6 |
| Final period | GS = (5 + 6) ÷ 2 = 5.50 (dark green) | GO = Отличен 6 |
The annual average of the two term marks is exactly 5.50, the bottom of the Отличен band, so the teacher sets the annual mark to Отличен 6.